And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, "Who touched my clothes?" And his disciples said unto him, "Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, 'Who touched me?'" And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague." (Mark 5:25-34)
I love the wording of the King James version in this account. I can identify with this woman. She had an issue! Boy, do I have issues! But then she heard about a Man. This woman was "in the press." She knew that she had to press her way through to touch Jesus, and her issue would be resolved. It most certainly was. I know this Man. He's been transforming my life, resolving my issues, since the day I met Him.
The Apostle Paul was in the press:
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12)
Jesus was pressed to death -- pressed by all kinds of people with all kinds of motives, by Satan himself, but most resolutely by the deliberate and complete submission of his own will in obedience to the will of the Father. Interestingly, the word "Gethsemane" means "olive press." In Jesus' day, the olive press contained a huge disk-shaped stone, weighing thousands of pounds, that was used to crush olives to produce oil. Jesus was crushed for us. First His blood, then the oil of His Spirit, were poured out for us. And now He presses on, victorious, our overwhelming conqueror. Praise Him for His peseverance and for His incredible love for us!
Pressing on. That's what I want to do. The purpose of this blog site is to be a window of encouragement for believers to keep pressing on, and never give up. If you have any questions about God, any testimonies of His moves in your life, or any encouraging words, please share them with us. We're in this together -- In the Press!
2 comments:
Tracy,
This was a fresh way of looking at "pressing on." My favorite pressing on Scripture is from Philippians 3:12-14 "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
This Scripture tells us that the Lord has called us forward - forward from our past toward what He has in store for our future. So often, we hang onto our past, being victims of our hurts, etc. Our past is what it is and most of us some have pretty ugly things there. I know I do. But this Scripture allowed me to let go of that past and be something more than the accumulation of other's pain inflicted on me. People of the past hurt me, but, the Lord allowed Himself to be hurt, to set me free and bring the spiritual, emotional and mental healing of the past wounds. Forgetting the past doesn't means that by some magical thing the mind just looses those memories, but it means that we don't dwell on those thoughts or dwell in the past. The Lord has done His part, but just as Paul had to "press on" and "strain" so do I. I had to press on by deliberately letting go... to choose to forgive...to chose to grow closer and closer to the Lord...to let Him heal, encourage, build up, restore, and grow me up. I'm on my way forward!
In Jesus, Lois
Thanks, Lois. I see that in my blog settings the default was set so that only registered users could comment. I changed that so that now anyone can leave comments.
Thanks for your input on "pressing on." It's so much about choices, isn't it? God's love, strength, peace and power are available always, but sometimes so much junk from past hurts and life in general makes it difficult to tap into what we need. I love the Philippians 3 scripture, too, and it certainly says what you have described as your experience. Keep pressing on!
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